The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday has signed a data-sharing agreement with various government agencies on beneficial ownership information. 

A signing ceremony was held in Makati, Friday.

SEC Chairperson and CEO Emilio Aquino said the partnership will boost efforts to combat money laundering and terrorism financing.

The agreement will allow SEC to grant access to government agencies on beneficial information of corporations registered with the commission, with the hopes of helping authorities uncover illegal activities.

According to the SEC, a beneficial owner is “the natural person who actually or ultimately owns or controls a corporation or exercises ultimate effective control even if on paper he does not have any legal title or does not appear as the legal owner.”

Aquino explained that this could be an avenue for some persons to hide their wealth or money, since their name won’t easily be linked to a corporation. Some could use this scheme for money laundering purposes or use it for illegal acts such as terrorism or drug-related cases.

“Part of laundering kasi is layering. So if you are the bad guy like to hide your money, but course it through the corporate sector, ilalayer mo yun…. That’s their way of laundering their dirty money, their funds, their property,” said Aquino.

Oliver Leonardo, Director for SEC Markets and Securities Regulations added, “Drill down who really is the beneficial owners if you peel the layers. That’s supposed to be the objective. Beyond the layers of corporations upon corporations, you must identify who is the beneficial owner, who is the individual.”

Aquino added that this partnership with various agencies will also help the Philippines exit the grey list of global money laundering by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The country has been on the grey list for several years now and it needs to solve several issues including one on beneficial ownership.

SEC has signed the agreements with nine agencies such as the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, Insurance Commission, Cagayan Economic Zone Authority, National Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice, Philippine Center on Transnational Crime, Department of Agriculture, Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority.

The commission has previously signed data-sharing agreements with other agencies including the Bureau of Immigration, Bureau of Internal Revenue, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation.